Large-company CFO pay slumped in 2002.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Chief financial officers's compensation

It won't be a surprise to many high-ranking CFOs: 2002 wasn't exactly a banner year, for business or for compensation. A survey by The Todd Organization of 823 large public companies (with revenues above $250 million) found that average CFO pay from all sources dropped sharply, by 14 percent.

While previous surveys have tended to show that CFOs at larger companies have been hurt least when pay trends head down, those at the very biggest (above $5 billion) had a larger percentage loss than those at companies between $1 billion and $5 billion, 14.9 percent to 7.7 percent. Finance chiefs at companies between $250 million and $1 billion suffered a 19.2 percent average drop.

The biggest source of lower compensation: fewer stock options. In fact, the average CFO in the group saw his or her option-based compensation fall by more than $300,000, even as the value of their bonuses grew, on average, by 25 percent.

2002 CFO Summary Compensation Information (figures in...